Karachi: Roadside free Iftar dinners ‘to gain mercy of God’

A little before the sun sets when most of fasting people rush to dining tables piled with delicacies, fresh fruits, refreshing juices and water to break their fast, there are others who resist the temptation of breaking fast with their loved ones to arrange free Iftar dinners for those less fortunate and needy.

Ramazan, the sacred month of the Islamic calendar, is revered because of its religious importance as it entices the faithful to engage in good deeds with more religious zeal and fervor to feel spiritual uplift and obtain the mercy of the Allah Almighty.

For many people Ramazan is not just a month to cut out food and water and abstain from all types of temporal pleasures from dawn to dusk, but this month is intended to indulge their passion for charitable work, sharing their blessings, meal, clothes and a small portion of their accumulated wealth to pull the improvised from the depths of poverty.

Like other parts of the country, many people in Karachi individually or collectively arrange free Iftar meals for people in need at pavements, parks and other public places across the metropolis. Whereas others are seen, doling out food and water bottles to those wayfarers and commuters who might not reach their homes before Iftar.

Apart from these benevolent persons, many charity organizations also spread out dastarkhuwans to provide free Iftar dinner to the poor, though their charity work continues throughout the year to help needy.

Muhammad Amin, a government servant is one of those satisfying their instinct of being charitable, says he has been arranging free Iftar meals for past many years at Shahrah-e-Faisal, one of the city’s major thoroughfare. The purpose behind all this, as he explains, is to gain the love and mercy of the divinity. He said he along with his other fellow neighbors chip in to put up enough amount to feed over dozens.

A volunteer, busy in stuffing plates with fresh fruits samosas and pakoras, said, “The feeling of being hungry all day at this time of the year evoked a thought for those poor going without food. We should serve humanity as it is one of the acts that bring you closer to Allah and closer to your religion more than anything else.”

The city presents festive look when hundreds of people are seen on pavements along streets and roads of the metropolis waiting for the sunset to break their fast after day-long fasting that too at the time when the city remains in the grip of sweltering heatwave.